There are numerous belts in wide use throughout industry which have one or more helically wound load-carrying cords defining the load-carrying section thereof; however, in fabricating each of these belts the cord is usually wound on a comparatively soft layer of cushion material whereby individual turns of the over-all load-carrying cord generally are embedded within such cushion in varying amounts depending upon the resistance offered by the cushion and the tension applied on the load-carrying cord during winding with the net result being that the turns are generally not in precise rectilinear alignment at any cross section along the belt resulting in unequal load distribution in the turns which tends to cause a corresponding reduction in belt life. In addition, in previously proposed belts the load-carrying cord is usually wound on a comparatively small helix angle resulting in a substantial amount of cord being required for a particular belt and also resulting in substantial amounts or lengths of exposed cord at the sides of a belt such as a so-called raw-edged belt.
In a belt which has a substantial length of exposed cord at the sides thereof there is considerable scrap in cutting such a belt from an associated belt sleeve caused by popping or extruding of cord during the cutting process and such popping and extruding often occurs in this type of a belt during certain types of normalizing or curing processes.